Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway's 2025 Predictions on AI, IPOs, Podcasts, and Trump | Pivot

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway's 2025 Predictions on AI, IPOs, Podcasts, and Trump | Pivot

PivotJan 3, 202510m

Kara Swisher (host), Scott Galloway (host), Narrator, Kara Swisher (host)

Donald Trump’s age, legacy, and anticipated behavior in his next termAI’s evolving ecosystem: ‘rails’ companies, OpenAI–NVIDIA duopoly, and new app-layer unicornsAI-powered personal health, diagnostics, and proactive services (travel, business, life admin)The rapid rise and monetization of podcasts, especially via political spendingShein and asset-light business models as a defining IPO and economic trendNuclear energy as the key enabling technology for AI’s energy demandsMasculinity, young men’s struggles, and their political impact in the 2024/2025 elections

In this episode of Pivot, featuring Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway's 2025 Predictions on AI, IPOs, Podcasts, and Trump | Pivot explores aI Rails, Political Podcasts, Nuclear Power, and Trump’s Aging Presidency Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway share their 2025 predictions, spanning politics, AI, media, finance, and culture. Swisher argues that Donald Trump’s age and lame-duck status may temper his behavior, and that under-the-radar enterprise players will be the biggest AI winners, much like infrastructure firms in the early internet. Galloway predicts an AI duopoly between OpenAI and NVIDIA, a boom in AI-driven consumer applications (especially in health and travel), and a breakout year for podcasts fueled by political ad spending. He also forecasts Shein as IPO of the year, nuclear as technology of the year, testosterone/masculinity as the cultural “substance” of the year, and record private-equity megadeals targeting companies like Target and Intel.

AI Rails, Political Podcasts, Nuclear Power, and Trump’s Aging Presidency

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway share their 2025 predictions, spanning politics, AI, media, finance, and culture. Swisher argues that Donald Trump’s age and lame-duck status may temper his behavior, and that under-the-radar enterprise players will be the biggest AI winners, much like infrastructure firms in the early internet. Galloway predicts an AI duopoly between OpenAI and NVIDIA, a boom in AI-driven consumer applications (especially in health and travel), and a breakout year for podcasts fueled by political ad spending. He also forecasts Shein as IPO of the year, nuclear as technology of the year, testosterone/masculinity as the cultural “substance” of the year, and record private-equity megadeals targeting companies like Target and Intel.

Key Takeaways

Expect a potentially calmer but still transactional Trump presidency due to age and lame-duck status.

Swisher argues Trump’s physical limitations and focus on legacy, combined with Republicans seeing him as useful for only a few more years, may moderate his behavior without changing his character.

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Look beyond the headline AI giants to ‘rails’ companies that implement and operationalize AI.

Firms like IBM, Salesforce, and Expedia may capture outsized value by integrating big players’ AI infrastructure into real-world workflows, echoing how early-internet infrastructure winners differed from first-wave website brands.

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Prepare for an OpenAI–NVIDIA ‘OpenVideo’ duopoly dominating AI infrastructure and compute.

Galloway predicts these two will control the vast majority of AI queries and processing power, akin to the historic Wintel duopoly, making them central chokepoints in the AI economy.

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AI will rapidly expand into consumer-facing applications in health, fitness, and travel.

From personalized medical recommendations based on uploaded lab data to proactive travel planning from card histories and calendars, a ‘thin layer’ of software will turn today’s powerful models into everyday services.

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2025 may be a breakout year for podcasts driven by political ad dollars and audience shifts.

Campaigns are realizing a single large podcast hit can reach the equivalent of a week of cable primetime, with better demographics (mid-30s, engaged listeners) and more persuasive host-read ads.

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Asset-light, software-driven businesses like Shein will define capital markets and IPO narratives.

Shein’s revenue-per-employee and lack of physical assets illustrate a broader shift toward IP-intensive models that outscale traditional incumbents in retail, travel, and hospitality.

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Nuclear energy and renewed focus on men’s economic distress will be central 2025 themes.

AI’s massive energy appetite is pushing tech giants toward nuclear as a reliable, scalable source, while electoral shifts among young men and their mothers signal that male economic struggles are now a defining political and cultural issue.

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Notable Quotes

You may see a calmer Donald Trump, and it's not because he's a good person, or he's turning the tide, or anything else.

Kara Swisher

I think those who ride the rails on these things are gonna be the beneficiaries… it reminds me of the early internet.

Kara Swisher

2025 will be the year of a new duopoly. It'll be OpenVideo… people will start referring to it as the most powerful duopoly in the world.

Scott Galloway

Software basically… SaaS goes from software as a service to service as a software.

Scott Galloway

People go to cable news to sanctify their beliefs. People go to podcasts to learn.

Scott Galloway

Questions Answered in This Episode

If Trump does become ‘calmer’ due to age and legacy concerns, how might that concretely change U.S. policy and global alliances?

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway share their 2025 predictions, spanning politics, AI, media, finance, and culture. ...

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Which specific ‘rails’ companies in AI are most undervalued today, and what indicators should investors or operators watch to spot the next big winners?

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How should consumers and regulators think about the privacy and security implications of uploading medical records, MRIs, and financial data into AI systems?

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Will the concentration of AI power in an OpenAI–NVIDIA duopoly spur meaningful antitrust action, or will network effects make it effectively unassailable?

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How will the twin trends of nuclear-powered AI infrastructure and rising concern over young men’s economic prospects reshape political platforms and policy priorities in 2025 and beyond?

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Transcript Preview

Kara Swisher

Okay, Scott. Now, it's time for our predictions. I'm gonna do mine first. I think, um, Donald Trump's age is, might become an issue in the next two years. I think the presidency is an incredibly difficult thing. I do think it might be calmer, bec- and it's largely not because he's become wiser 'cause he's not. He's not wise in any way. He's not a good person. He's a serial sexual harasser, at the very least, and a r- and other things. I think he's a terrible person. I think his age is going to calm him down. I don't know how else to put it. It... either through, uh, natural what happens when you get older and the, and the difficulties of this. So, you may see a calmer Donald Trump. I just... I... you may see it, and it's not because he's a good person, or he's turning the tide, or anything else. He also is probably looking at his legacy now, and he's a lame duck president. No matter how you slice it, he's a lame duck president. And again, people around him are aware of it. I've heard it from so many people in his party. "We only need him for a couple more years." They've said it. Uh, "And then we'll make him into an icon. We'll do some statues, all good." And so I think it's gonna maybe a little surprising, and it's not, again, not 'cause he's a good person. Um, as to, uh, my other prediction, I do think there's gonna be a lot more advantage to companies in AI that you aren't thinking of, like IBM, Salesforce, a lot of the others that are gonna ride on the rails of the enormous spending that, uh... whether it's $30 billion from, from Meta, whether it's, um, uh, 50 to, uh, 80... 50 to 80 billion from Microsoft, or all of them are spending. I think those who ride the rails on these things are gonna be the beneficiaries that put them into place, whether you're Salesforce helping Disney with its lines, the... that's one of their clients, or, um, IBM, or things like that. So, I would look to those companies in a lot of ways who are gonna be the real beneficiaries. It reminds me of the early internet. It was not the companies that put up the websites like Netflix... Netscape, excuse me. It was the companies that rode the rails, and these rails are being put in place not by our government, but by companies, and they're getting paid for, uh, n- whether it's energy costs, everything else. So, I would look to those companies in 2025. I think the AI revolution is just getting started, and it will start to really... it reminds me of early, early internet, and who s- who began and who succeeded were two very different parties. Y- on to you, Scott Galloway.

Scott Galloway

I like those. Uh, so okay. So briefly, 2025 will be the year of a new duopoly. It'll be OpenVideo. OpenAI and NVIDIA right now control arguably 90% of all traffic in AI, 90% of the queries, 90% of the queries of the processors that are powering those answers to those queries are those two firms. And so it'll be kind of the new Wintel, and people will start referring it, to it as the most powerful duopoly in the world. We're... we haven't seen... I think we're gonna see a bunch of raft of new unicorns in the application layer of AI. We have the infrastructure layer, we have the LLMs themselves. But every, every innovation or new technology creates a bunch of interesting consumer applications. I think you're gonna see a raft of new unicorns in healthcare where you upload your medical records, your diet, and it starts playing offense and come back, comes back to you with exact... I told you, I... for the first time, I ha- was diagnosed with high blood pressure two and a half months ago. I went into AI. I uploaded my urine, my blood work, my fecal work. Uh, I talked very openly about my diet, and it came back with a series of recommendations, and I took them to heart, and I no longer have high blood pressure. And I think that's gonna be systemized, routinized, and create a bunch of interesting applications around fitness, healthcare, especially I think around travel, there's huge opportunity. Look at all... I upload all of my credit card bills, all my past travel, my calendar, and it starts proactively saying, "Scott, we see that you're gonna be in LA for this meeting. We're gonna book you here. You should do this. You should go see your dad. You should do this." I've already organized a flight-

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